FanBridge Blog

It’s CMJ time in NYC. This means there are lots of bands trying to get lots of fans. While we can’t make everyone like you (though we do have faith in your showcase!), we can share some tips on making it easier to get fan list sign-ups while you’re out and about. Don’t think that you need to be at CMJ to use these, either. These tips can help out any band roughing it out there on the road.

1. Be real.

Online incentives are great…for online sign-ups. When faced with potential fans, er, face-to-face, give them something they can have immediately for signing up. If you don’t have any merch to give out, try making download cards. You can still send the free download through your FanBridge confirmation email, but the fan will have physical proof that something is on its way.

2. Be Ready.

You never know when someone might want to find out more about your band. Since it’s CMJ week in New York, the streets are flooded with hungry music fans looking for easy ways to find new music. They might not have time to listen to a song or even make it to your show, but that potential fan might sign up for a free download. You know what WON’T get a sign up? Pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from your pocket while searching everywhere for a pen. Try our Fan Collector App for iOS and Android to collect email addresses on-the-go.

3. Be in two places at once.

…but why keep the Fan Collector App to yourself when it’s totally free? Send it to your street team (or a few friends you’ve talked into being your street team) along with your sync code and set them off into the crowd at your gig to gather fans. The app identifies who’s collected which addresses, so you can easily track and reward the best street teamers for collecting the most fans.

4. Be green (and lazy)!

You could just eschew paper altogether and start collecting sign-ups on your laptop or iPad. You’ll save trees, stop losing pages of fan info to spilt beer (or just carelessness), and up the “wow” factor at your merch table. You’ll also save time since you can email the file right to lazyfanbridgecom and we’ll import it for you.

5. Be mobile.

This one is a little “advanced,” as in you’ll need to set it up yourself. There are plenty of sites that will generate a QR code for free. Link the code to your Fan Action Page and either display it on a laptop or print it out and stick it on the merch table. Scanning the code will let fans join your list on their own phones, or at least bookmark your Fan Action Page for later.

Good ideas guys! I especially like the street team fan collector app – very cool!

I made the coolest little business card with a QR code that sends people straight to my fanbridge landing page. It also has all of my info, like booking phone, email, website and social media addresses, so they can easily look me up on their preferred platform. And it has my picture so they remember who I am. Cool, easy, upped the wow effect.